ooodrick, Goodricke, Goodryke, Godric,
Goodericke,Guderyke, Family History Centre was created to allow People to give and receive
information about the Goodrick`s from very remote times to date.
Where to begin? Well I think that we should look at the name first Lets start
with the origin. The name Godric is SAXON and the earliest spelling I have
found is Godric, the family of names possibly switched to being surnames by
being preceded by the Latin “filius”, to mean “son of”. For example, some of
the earliest recorded versions of names closely similar to “Goodrick”, can be
found in Lincolnshire records, we know a Thomas Godric had a son John who was
recorded as John Godericke and subsequent spellings from the same family are
Godericke, Goodericke, Goodrike, Goodricke, other records show Godric Castle, named after its
owner, Godric Mappeston, this is first mentioned in a document dated 1101-02,
a Goodrick of
Cunningsby in 1066, a man named Gaufridus filius Godrici in 1207 and so on.
According to “A Dictionary of English Surnames” by P.H. Reaney & R.M. Wilson
all the above derived from the Old English 'Godric', the meaning of which is
signifying God’s jurisdiction, tribal leader or good, or God like leader. It
is mentioned by Bede, Ingulphus,and other historians of the Saxon times, and is
inscribed upon several Old Saxon coins not as the leader of a nation but as
the "moneyer" or striker of the coin see Godric the Moneyer in the home page. Saxons came from North Western Germany
along with Angles Frisians and Jutes, about 450AD? Lead by Hengist and Horsa.
Although resent research suggests that some members of Saxon tribes may have been here
some fifty years earlier as traders, small raiding parties to aggravate the Roman
occupying and settling in the more isolated areas. By 450 AD the Saxons were here in some
number. Any way their arrival on the Kent coast with three long ships loaded
with fighting men was not initially an invasion force, or the first Saxons to
come. Venerable Bede's story
says, they came by invitation. Vortigern, originally a local Welsh king, ruled
much of the south of England stretching as far east as Kent . He became very
concerned at the anarchy in the northern parts of the country and the growing
danger from the Picts now that the Roman Army had gone. Vortigern offered a
grant of land on the Isle of Thanet in return for the military services of
Hengist and Horsa in the protection of that part of the coast. They did repel
an enemy attack but also found them to be a cowardly lot, according to the
Venerable Bede (Lat.:
Beda Venerabilis)in his eighth century “History of the English Church and
People” (remember his story was written some two hundred years after the
events portrayed.) The Saxons therefore sent messages to their friends and relations at
home telling how easy it was to loot and take land. This lead to a clash with
Vortigan in which Horsa was killed, but Hengist soon took over the whole of
Kent . Angles from Schleswig-Holstein and Saxons from the region between the
Elbe and the Rhine now arrived in force. The Saxons established themselves in
Essex, Middlesex , Sussex , and Wessex- East, Middle South and West Saxons,
while the Angles occupied Norfolk and Suffolk , North Folk and South Folk. At
the same time they were pushing further inland up the navigable reaches of the
Thames, the Trent , the Ouse and the Humber with small squadrons of ships
whose crews became the founders of new communities. Lighter craft found their
way across the Fens , which were reverting back to swamp land since being
abandoned by the Romans, to firmer ground beyond. Although the Angles gave
their name to the country, Angle-Land becoming England , they were by no means
the dominant partners. In spite of inter-tribal strife, the Angles, Saxons,
Frisians and Jutes shared a common background and culture, which make it
reasonable to refer to this strain in our ancestry as Anglo-Saxons.

I have contented myself that the Godric
or Goodrick family settled in the south of England in the very early days and
had spread and become prosperous farmers and traders, the family wealth coming
from wool trading. This continued for a great number of generations in the
late 1400s and early 1500s Goodrick`s were members of the staple trading not
only here (Boston England) but in

Calais France.

Merchant marks attributed to Lionel
Goodrick above can be seen at High Hall built about 1549 East Kirkby Co.
Lincolnshire above the front door.
In the Late Medieval period
in England and Flanders Merchant marks (or "identity marks") were widely used
by European merchants for centuries, traders and artisans alike. Originally employed
by traders to mark their merchandise for shipping or sale (in some respects
anticipating corporate logos), these marks were later claimed as personal
marks in ways comparable to heraldic devices. Late medieval England and
Flanders saw a huge proliferation of these marks with the increasing
importance of trade. A wide variety can be found of late medieval merchant
marks, (see Merchants Marks by Edward Mars Elmhirst, TD., MS., F.R.C.S. London
1959) as they appear on seals and signet rings, glass windows, monumental
brasses, devotional books, miscellanies, paintings, and other media.
Late-medieval representations of merchants in literature and visual arts
indicate a widespread fascination (or frustration) with the proliferation of
their marks. Moreover, the sheer variety of forms these marks could take
(rebus-like configurations, splicing with heraldic devices, coexistence with
ecclesiastical or guild iconography) suggests that the merchant classes did
not necessarily seek to assume aristocratic trappings. So back to Godric I am now
confident, however, that a diligent search would be successful by means of our
National records in tracing the Godric, Goodrick family back to very remote times. It
appears from the visitation of Robert Glover, Somerset herald that the family
flourished for several generations at NORTINGLEY (Norton by Leigh) (It was
assumed I think at transcribing by Burke that this was County Somerset may be
because it was the Somerset herald how ever not necessarily so) certainly the
family were present in Chilcompton, Co. Somerset in very early times.
Subsequent research shows that this may have been Norton by Leigh Co.
Gloucestershire. So we have Henry moving into Lincolnshire at the time of his
marriage, with heiress, the daughter of Thomas Stickford, Esq., of Co.
Lincoln, and Henry being the third son of Robert Goodrick, of Norton by Leigh
Co. Gloucestershire? Mid-Late 12th century. John Goodryke of
Bolingbroke who died in 1493 was the fifth in descent from this Henry and it
is this John that we can trace an unbroken male line back to. Now the Goodrick
family was seated in Lincolnshire at a much earlier date than the arrival of
Henry. So perhaps Henry had a family introduction to his bride (I would point
out that is speculation). For instance, we have Goodrick of Cunningsby, who
had been a senior member of the community at Wildmore for some forty years,
who acted as an arbitrator for the Soke of Horncastle and Scrivelsby in a
dispute between the Barons of Bolingbroke, Horncastle, and Scrivelsby, soon
after the Norman Conquest 1066. From the Subsidy Rolls, temp. Edward III.
1333, it appears that a Goodrick family was settled at Bennington, Co. Lincoln
. At this point I will explain how with some differences in the spelling of
the family name have been over come by the simple use of heraldry.

We have some of the earliest recorded
heraldry and with some known family members we can say that from about the mid
12th century we can identify the family with some accuracy. The
basic arms for Goodrick have not changed much, apart from what are known as
differences to distinguish between family members, quartering, to show the
union of marriage husband in the first followed by the wife's father's Arms in
the second this has been recorded for some 800 years, this simplifies it a
bit, but it is very accurate and well recorded in old family pedigrees and at
the Collage of Arms in London by the Heralds visitations and so on.

This is why we can with some certainty
say that if we know the Arms, we know which family they belong to (see
Development of Goodrick Heraldry) e.g. the Goodrich family have entirely
different coat armour to that of Goodrick. We find the same or very similar
Arms recorded under several different spellings none of which are Goodrich.

Very early Godric`s in the region, we
have an even more remote Godric, two in fact, Abbot Godric at Crowland Abby
one in 869ad and the other Godric of Burgh was head of the Monastery from
1005ad to 1018ad, Listed in “The Crowland Chronicle.” We have a few Godric`s
that have fore names or Christian names Thomas and John that can be connected
to the Goodrick families but at this point it becomes harder to find
connections as we find the form changing to for e.g. Godric of Scrivelsby,
Godric brother of Eadnoth Godric son of AElfhelm the younger Godric the
Justice and so on, as explained at the beginning of this work, all listed in
“The Saxon Charters” until we get as on the very early Saxon coin just Godric.
The Saxon Charters and the Saxon Chronicles have been translated on a number
of occasions by scholars of note the former The Saxon Charters by Thorpe
published in 1919-1920, would offer a great deal for further investigation but
I would say that the translations are not incompatible, our knowledge is
increasing with more resent study and hopefully we will be able to gain a
better insight into the Saxon Godric.

It would seem to point from the
confirmation charter of the Confessor that the Godric name was then set to
continue with its variations to date with the modern fore name e.g. Thomas
followed by the now called surname Godric or Goodrick. Further study is being
carried out by me and commissioned scholars into this very interesting part of
our family history.

For further in depth information on this
work go into this site by clicking the Arms above.